PVR/HTPC built into a classic 1952 Philco TV console/cabinet mod!

[smokeyalien]

What exactly did you do for the black shroud around the TV to fill in the gaps between it and the stand?  It's reminiscent of some work I tried with a car PC mod to get the LCD to sit and look right in the dash.

Smokeyalien

[q240z]

I used a yard or so of black speaker cloth, several three-foot lengths of copper-clad steel welding rod, styrofoam blocks, and a hot glue gun.  I bent and cut the metal rods to make two rectangles; one that just fit around the TV screen and the other was a friction fit for the cabinet.  My gas torch is on the other side of the country, so I used hot glue to hold it all together.  Then I cut the styrofoam blocks into trianglar shapes that went diagonally from the edge of the screen to the edge of the cabinet, and hot glued the metal frames to them.  Then I cut a rectangular hole in the center of the cloth and--you guessed it--hot glued the fabric to the frame.

It is a friction fit so it comes out easily for cleaning or service, and IR goes through without any problem at all.

[rampy]

although less complicated, a similiar topic comes up on the arcade controls website with regards to making bezels... (if one needed another point of research)

Side note:  I saw a smaller console cabinet TV at an antique store this weekend and my gears started turning for a lower budget/smaller screen version

rampy

[aighead]

This is a great project! Good job! I about cried when I saw the original console, it looked pretty sharp already! Did it work? (edit- uh, nevermind the working question... I just read the flickr thing...)

Anyways, very pretty job, I've got a couple potential candidates for building my own box, and as rampy said I'm starting to get a little itchy too. Looks like fun!

P.S. I would have been terrified to rip the back off the LCD, it would have been a good time. How did you work the bracket to hold the monitor in place? I see the plank laying there but what holds it to the TV? Is the inside/back of an LCD just flat and a bunch of chips and junk?

[q240z]

Thanks!

The Sharp Aquos LCD is setup for direct mounting to a wall, so the attachment points are built-in and ready to go.  All you have to do is drill the holes with +-1-2mm accuracy and go buy yourself some bolts to hold it in place.

Terrifying as it was, the whole thing came apart very easily; the TV is, in fact a self-contained unit, and pulling it out of the cabinet doesn't have any effect on performance.  It sure does make your butt pucker, though, when you lift the bad boy out of it's case.

[aighead]

Huh... I forgot about the mounting holes. Great plan!

[mmnmaniac]

Hey OP,

Just curious.. from start to finish, how many manhours did you spend building, putting together, and just tweaking the PVR system itself? (i.e. do not count time spent on making adjustments and fashioning the case)